Abstract:
The ER2 MTP is a passive microwave radiometer which measures the thermal emission from oxygen molecules in the atmosphere for a selection of elevation angles (normally 10 between +60 and -58 degrees). The current observing frequencies are 55.5, 56.6 and 58.8 GHz. Measured 'brightness temperature' versus elevation angle is converted to air temperature versus altitude using a modified statistical ... retrieval procedure with a Bayesian component. An altitude temperature profile (ATP) is produced in this manner every 13 seconds or approximately 3 km along the flight path. The ATP can be used to produce a color-coded temperature curtain (CTC) of the temperature field which the ER2 has flown through, and to identify the tropopause location. ATPs can also be used to locate altitudes where the air is cold enough to condense nitric acid or water vapor to form polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs).